It’s been a difficult year for the Houston Texans, especially at the skill positions. Nico Collins, Tank Dell, Stefon Diggs, and Joe Mixon have all missed games this year, with Diggs out for the season. Collins missed the last month due to an injury and he was expected to make his highly anticipated return on Sunday night against the Detroit Lions. However, Collins is inactive. Let’s examine Collins’ injury and why he’s still sidelined.
How Did Nico Collins Get Hurt?
This season, Collins is averaging 113.4 yards per game — by far the most in the NFL.
The Texans’ star wide receiver got injured while scoring a 67-yard touchdown against the Buffalo Bills in Week 5. He blew past the secondary and was able to make it to the end zone, but he pulled up lame toward the end of the play and seemed to be in pain.
CJ TO NICO 67 YARDS!
📺: #BUFvsHOU on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/0wfq5acJXl— NFL (@NFL) October 6, 2024
Initially, there were reports that Collins might only miss a week or two. However, further testing revealed a more significant strain, prompting the Texans to place the star receiver on injured reserve.
A stint on IR requires players to miss the next four games, so Collins was first eligible to return tonight against the Lions. However, Collins was inactive for the Sunday Night Football clash. Why?
Why Isn’t Collins Active Against the Lions in Week 10?
In recent weeks, there were reports that Collins was progressing quickly and hadn’t experienced any setbacks. He apparently even reached 20 miles per hour in his training sessions.
The Texans designated Collins to return from IR on Friday afternoon, so all signs were pointing to him returning for Sunday night’s game against Detroit.
However, after Collins only participated in one limited practice, he was listed as questionable for Week 10. There were rumblings that Collins might not play and that his activation was simply gamesmanship by the Texans, who felt he needed one more week to get completely healthy.
This ended up being accurate, and now Collins is expected to make his debut in Week 11 when the Texans face the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football.
Houston is seriously missing Collins’ production.
Throughout the first five weeks of the season, C.J. Stroud was averaging 277 passing yards per game. In the four games that Collins missed, Stroud’s average dipped to 188.5 passing yards per game.
In the last four games that Collins started, over 75% of Houston’s yards came through the air. In the four games he was out, just 54.9% of their yards have come via passes.
It’s worth noting that Joe Mixon’s early-season injury and Stefon Diggs’ Week 8 ACL tear may have contributed to this decline, but there’s no question that this offense is at its best when Collins is on the field.